Yvonne's Blog

Magical Adventures Await

Goals and Publishing

Luminata's #Kickstarter campaign was very successful. Luminata had 100% of the $2000 goal funded with three days to spare. It was amazing and I am overwhelmed by the support from everyone.

I did add two stretch goals to the campaign. The difference with the stretch goals are that they are not all or nothing. At this point all funds that were pledged will be going to Luminata, and everyone will be receiving their tier rewards. Stretch goals are simply goals that I set for additional rewards for everyone once those goals are reached. If these additional goals aren't met, then just the original rewards will be awarded and I will get the pledged funds from supporters.

Here are the stretch goals:

$3,000 pledged: Once this goal is reached this will allow for print versions of the novel to be produced immediately upon publication. Supporters that pledged $10-$99 will receive a signed first edition paperback of Luminata. Supporters that pledged $100 or more will be upgraded to a hardback.

$3,500 pledged: Once this goal is reached all supporters will be upgraded to a hardcover printed version of the novel. Everyone that pledged will receive a signed first edition hardback of Luminata.

Some of you are wondering: "How'd she do it?"

Well, a lot of help from my friends, family, and author groups. I got marvelous feedback from several people about my campaign page: what was working, what wasn't, and what was missing. I loved getting the feedback as that meant I could improve the site for everyone.

I learned TONS! Prior to this last month:

I'd never been on a crowdfunding site before.

I'd never recorded and edited a video, let alone shared it on YouTube, or any other site for that matter.

I'd never done a LIVE broadcast (oh yeah, I hosted one on Kickstarter and on Facebook!)

I'd never run an ad on Facebook, or Twitter.

I'd never thought realistically that I would be able to do a successful campaign on Kickstarter.

I'd never messaged so many people in all my life! (I'm actually pretty introverted.) (Don't shake your head at that, I swear I am!)

Would I recommend a crowdfunding campaign for other authors?

The simple answer: Yes.

The complicated answer: still yes. You'll push yourself past what you thought you could do. And it's super rewarding both for your confidence and your creativity. (OK, it's also super draining, but there is an end in sight... Is it the 5th at 7 am yet?)

It's a good idea to review all of your options when deciding on a crowdfunding campaign. Some are all or nothing, while others will let you gather whatever funds are pledged even if you miss your goal.

Make sure you have a wide variety of reward tiers. My tiers ranged from $10 all the way up to $500. I laughed when I created the $500 tier, and was shocked when I got 2 pledges over $500. (Thank you Jim and Yvonne, and Mike and Ursula! My Precious Platinum sponsors.)

One of the biggest factors in being successful is that you must step out of your comfort zone. I was constantly pushing the limits of where I was comfortable with. You can't just wish that people will support you. You have to speak to your friends and family and ask them for support.(Thank you everyone that did!!!!)

Ask them to review your campaign page and give you feedback. What do they like, and what do they think could be better? You have to be humble and take that criticism in, and improve your campaign because of it.

Remember, you are doing this for the novel. You are doing this so that these people that supported you get the book in their hot hands, read it, and of course, fall in love with it.

What's the side benefit to this whole thing?

I am an Indie Author Entrepreneur and therefore I don't have a large publishing house backing me and paying for editors, cover artists, advertising, or even cost of doing business. I have chosen to work on these things myself and I realized that I needed some seed money to help with the large expenses of producing a good novel. I also feel like crowdfunding is similar to a pre-order of the novel. If all someone wants to spend is the lowest tier for that reward, great. I love it. If someone wants to be my patron and support me more, I am ecstatic.

With the social media push that I have been doing to promote the campaign, people know that I am getting ready to publish my novel. There's a buzz going on about the book. I have my free short story that is leading interested people to my newsletter list. Obscurity is lessening each day.

Lastly: I feel like it was almost a mini book launch. I have learned so many subtle and invaluable things with this campaign that I will carry with me through the book launch.

Here's the campaign for you to check out:

What do you think about crowdfunding a novel?

I'd love to hear what you're thoughts are on using crowdfunding for a novel. Please leave your comments below.